Nov. 17, 2004
FAIRBANKS, Ak. - The UCF men's basketball team tips off the 2004-05 season Thursday in the eight-team BP Top of The World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. Kirk Speraw's UCF squad will square off against the tournament host the University of Alaska Fairbanks at 10 p.m. Eastern.
UCF is coming off a season in which the Golden Knights won the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, but Speraw has three starters to replace from that 25-6 squad.
"We have some big shoes to fill with the loss of Dexter (Lyons), Josh (Bodden) and Roberto (Morentin), the three leading scorers and three leading rebounders from a year ago and we've got to have a lot of people step up into those expanded roles," Speraw said. "This is a team that is very much a work in progress and this tournament is going to give us an early indication of the things we need to work on and improve on. The benefit of this tournaments is that you play great competition in a tournament setting and you find out very quickly the things you are doing well and very quickly the things you've got to improve on. I think this is going to be a great learning experience for our team."
A lot of the leadership for this year's squad will fall on the shoulders of senior point guard Gary Johnson (Wayne, Mich./Wayne Memorial HS) and senior forward Marcus Avant (Valdosta, Ga./Valdosta HS). Sophomore forward Josh Peppers (Memphis, Tenn./Whitehaven HS) and junior center Will Bakanowski (Gibbsboro, N.J./Camden Catholic HS) will have to pick up some scoring slack, while junior college signees Marcus Johnson (Wayne, Mich./Robichaud HS) and Anthony Williams (Omaha, Neb./Omaha South HS) will be counted on for scoring and rebounding help in the middle.
The homestanding Nanooks are also coming off a great season. They finished with a 23-7 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division II Tournament. They are currently ranked second in the nation in Division II.
"Fairbanks is an outstanding team and unfortunately we drew them in the first round," Speraw said. "They are an experienced team and one of the better programs in the country with a guard in Brad Olsen who is as intelligent of a basketball player as I think I've ever seen. He knows how to move without the ball and he's a tremendous shooter. He can make you pay in a lot of different ways. It's going to be very hard for us to defend him but our guys, I'm sure, will step up to the challenge."
In addition to the home court advantage, UCF will also have to deal with the four-hour time change from Orlando. The game is set for 6 p.m. locally, which is 10 p.m. Eastern. The travel process took a total of 14 hours from the time the team left UCF until it arrived at the hotel in Fairbanks. The Golden Knights were greeted by 15 degrees and snow upon arrival.
Other teams in the tournament include Northwestern, Portland, Utah State, Western Michigan, Georgia Southern and New Mexico State.